Thursday, 7 March 2013

The Three Days of Darkness and the Angelic Pope

The incorrupt body of Bl. Anna Maria Taigi, Church of San Crisogono in Travestre, Rome

The prophecy attributed to Bl. Anna Maria Taigi concerning the coming of the Angelic Pope is very similar to the account given by Bl. Elizabeth Canori-Mora, and may help to flesh out a fuller picture of the future events that are being described in these visions. As we noted in the earlier posts on this subject, Pope Benedict XVI's now famous remarks during his inaugural speech "Pray for me that I do not flee for fear of the wolves", have some striking affinities with the prophecies of Bl. Elizabeth Canori-Mori - especially when they are considered in combination with the remarkable events surrounding the Holy Father's abdication. It should be worth recapping this material below, with some additional commentary. During a prophetic vision, Bl. Elizabeth saw the pope:

"surrounded by wolves who
plotted to betray him… I saw the Sanhedrin of wolves which surrounded the
Pope, and two angels weeping… when I asked them why they were sad and lamenting,
looking upon Rome with eyes full of compassion they responded, ‘Wretched city,
ungrateful people, the justice of God will chastise you.’”

After seeing two angels crying out for God's justice to recompense the actions of these "wolves", Bl. Elizabeth then saw bolts of lightning falling down to announce the form of the future chastisement -which forms an amazing parallel to the lightning strikes which occurred just hours after Benedict XVI announced his abdication on 11 Feb, 2013:

Like furious wolves they scheme to pull the Church leader down from his throne.”
Then she was allowed to see the terrible indignation these wolves aroused in
God. “In terror I saw the blazing lightening bolts of Divine Justice fall
about me. I saw buildings collapsing in ruins. Cities, regions and the whole
world fell into chaos. One heard nothing but countless weak voices calling out
for mercy. Countless people will be killed. [I saw that God was]
extremely angry with those who
persecute Him. His omnipotent hands were holding bolts of lightning, His
face was resplendent with indignation and His gaze alone was enough to
incinerate the whole world.”

The first and most obvious connection is the fact that Bl. Elizabeth saw a pope surrounded by a "Sanhedrin of wolves" who plotted to pull him down from his throne. Whether this was intentional or not, it immediately ties into the Holy Father's inaugural address. In a blog post I wrote on 14th March, 2012 (which can be found here), I had already highlighted the similarities between the two angels in this vision and the two angels described in the Third Secret of Fatima:

Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal
aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and
with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God.

In my book Unveiling the Apocalypse, I note how the two angels that gather up the blood of the martyrs in the Third Secret contains imagery which
deliberately evokes the sprinkling of blood on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the
Covenant described in the Book of Leviticus:

And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and
sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and
in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger
seven times.Then he shall kill the goat
of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil
and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over
the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the
uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all
their sins.

(Lev16:14-16)

In the book, I argue that the two angels seen in the vision of the Third Secret are used to represent the two cherubim that adorned the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant - the area where the blood of sacrifice was sprinkled for the atonement of sin in accordance with the Mosaic Law. I also argue that a large portion of the structure of the Third Secret is based on the narrative of the Two Witnesses described in chapter 11 of the Apocalypse.

The city half in ruins with a large cross represents Jerusalem. More
specifically, it represents the the Church as the Heavenly Jerusalem, which is half in ruins is because of the apostasy of a vast portion of its baptized members. At the end of this journey the pope is slain in this half ruined "Heavenly
Jerusalem", in a direct parallel to the location of the death of the Two Witnesses - in the place "where their Lord was crucified":

I will
grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days,
clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that
stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, fire pours
from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how
he is doomed to be killed.They have the power to shut
the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they
have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with
every kind of plague, as often as they desire.And when they have finished their testimony, the beast
that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and
kill them,and their dead bodies will
lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt,
where their Lord was crucified.

(Rev 11:4-8)

Then, just as the Third Secret closes with a vision of the two angels gathering up the blood of sacrifice, Rev 11 closes with a vision of the Ark of Covenant - which is adorned with the two cherubim of on the Mercy Seat:

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.(Rev 11:15-19)

On p54 of the book, I suggest that the two angels depicted on the Ark of the Covenant represent the Two Witnesses of Rev 11. In turn, the narrative of the Two Witnesses in the Book of Revelation is directly based on the martyrdom of Ss. Peter and Paul under the Emperor Nero, who are depicted as precursors to these two end-time restorer figures. The author of the Apocalypse identifies the Beast from the sea/Antichrist with Nero by the means of Hebrew gematria. The name Caesar Nero has the numerical value of 666 once the Greek letters are transliterated into Hebrew and converted into their numerical value (see the post Hebrew 666?). In making this equation, the Book of Revelation indicates that the Antichrist will be a another "Nero" type figure. The Emperor Nero famously burned Rome to the ground in order to re-build it in his own vision, then attached blame for this atrocity to the burgeoning Christian movement. As part of the persecution which followed, Ss. Peter and Paul were captured, incarcerated and martyred.Following this template, the Book of Revelation may be suggesting that the Antichrist will purposely attempt to put his own dominion to flame in order to rebuild it according to his own vision. In doing so, he may even attempt to blame the Christian faith for his crimes, and put to death the two greatest leaders of Catholicism at the end-time - the Two Witnesses.The two cherubim of the Ark of the Covenant (depicted at the close of both Rev 11 and the Third Secret of Fatima) appear to symbolise several dualities associated with the Two Witnesses, ranging from their precursors in Ss. Peter and Paul, to their modern equivalences in private revelation - the Angelic Pope and the Great Monarch. In The Joint Encyclical of 1255, Bl. John of Parma also linked the Two Witnesses of Rev 11 with the two cherubim of the Ark of the Covenant, in comparing the two orders of the Franciscans and the Dominicans with other symbolic pairings in the Bible:

These orders are - so to speak to God's glory and not our own - two great luminaries which by celestial light shine upon and minister to those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. These are the two trumpets of the true Moses, of Christ our God, by whose ministry a multitude of peoples has already been called to the source (Num. 10:2). These are the two Cherubim full of knowledge, gazing at each other while they behold the same object, spreading out their wings to the people while they protect them by word and example, and flying about on obedient wing over the whole people to spread saving knowledge (Exod. 25:18). These are the two breasts of the spouse from which Christ's little ones suck the milk by which they are nourished and receive saving increase (Song of Sol. 4:5). These are the two olives of the Son of Splendor that stand near the ruler of the universe ready for his command wherever his will might lead them to fulfill his mission (Zech. 4:14). These are the two witnesses of Christ who, clad in sackcloth, are already preaching and bearing testimony to the truth (Rev. 11:13). These are the two shining stars that according to the Sibylline prophecy have the appearance of the four animals and in the last days will cry out in the name of the Lord in the way of humility and voluntary poverty...

(Translated by Bernard McGinn, Visions of the End, pp164-165)

We also need to take into consideration that it was after her vision of the two angels and the lightning bolts of God's justice, that Bl. Elizabeth saw St. Peter descending from heaven to appoint the Angelic Pope. And then there is the fact that there was not one, but two lightning strikes on St. Peter's Basilica after the Holy Father announced his intention to abdicate. Is this in any way connected to Bl. Elizabeth's vision of the two angels and Ss. Peter and Paul?:On the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29, 1820, she saw Saint Peter
descending from heaven, robed in papal vestments and surrounded by a legion of
angels. With his crosier he drew a great cross over the face of the earth,
separating it into four quadrants. In each of these quadrants, he then brought
forth a tree, sprouting with new life. Each tree was in the shape of a cross and
enveloped in magnificent light. All the good laity and religious fled for
protection underneath these trees and were spared from the tremendous
chastisement. “Woe! Woe to those unobservant religious who despise their Holy
Rules. They will all perish in the terrible chastisement together with all who
give themselves to debauchery and follow the false maxims of their deplorable
contemporary philosophy!...

...However, all will not end in this death and destruction. After these
purifying punishments, she saw Saint Peter return on a majestic papal throne
together with Saint Paul, who went through the world shackling the devils and
bringing them before Saint Peter, who cast them back into the dark caverns from
where they had come. “Then a beautiful splendor came over the earth, to announce
the reconciliation of God with mankind.”The small flock of faithful
Catholics who had taken refuge under the trees will be brought before Saint
Peter, who will “choose a new pope. All the Church will be reordered according
to the true dictates of the holy Gospel. The religious orders will be
reestablished and the homes of Christians will become homes imbued with
religion.“So great will be the fervor and zeal for the glory of God that
everything will promote love of God and neighbor. The triumph, glory and honor
of the Catholic Church will be established in an instant. She will be acclaimed,
venerated and esteemed by all. All will resolve to follow Her, recognizing the
Vicar of Christ as the Supreme Pontiff.”Early in 1821 Our Lord said to her,
“I will reform my people and my Church. I will send zealous priests to preach my
Faith. I will form a new apostolate and send the Holy Ghost to renew the world.
I will reform the religious orders by means of new holy and learned reformers.
They will all have the spirit of my predilect son Ignatius of Loyola. I will
provide my Church with a new pastor, who is learned, holy and full of My Spirit.
With holy zeal he will reform My flock.”“He told me many other things about
this renovation. Many sovereigns will support the Catholic Church and be true
Catholics, placing their scepters and crowns at the feet of the Holy Father and
Vicar of Jesus Christ. Many kingdoms will abandon their errors and return to the
bosom of the Catholic Faith. Entire peoples will convert, recognizing the Faith
of Jesus Christ as the true religion.”

The above prophecies of Bl. Elizabeth Canori-Mora are strikingly reminiscent of the visions of Bl. Anna Maria Taigi (recorded in several publications, such asPrivate Prophecies, Rome, 1863) - which place the appearance of Ss. Peter and Paul to intervene in the election of the Angelic Pope as occurring after the Three Days of Darkness:

“A heavenly apparition shall come to
reassure the faithful. Saint Peter and St. Paul will appear on the clouds, and
all men shall see them; and, in a supernatural manner, faith shall return to
their hearts. Innumerable conversions of heretics shall cause universal
edification.”

“St
Peter and St Paul will intervene in the election of a new pope”.

“After
the three days of darkness, Saints Peter and Paul, having come down from heaven,
will preach throughout the world and designate a new Pope. A great light will
flash from their bodies and settle upon the cardinal, the future pontiff. Then
Christianity will spread throughout the world. He is the holy pontiff chosen by
God to withstand the storm. At the end he will have the gift of miracles and his
name shall be praised over the whole earth. Whole nations will join the Church
shortly before the reign of the Antichrist. These conversions will be amazing.
Those who survive shall have to conduct themselves well. There shall be
innumerable conversions of heretics, who will return to the bosom of the Church;
all will note the edifying conduct of their lives, as well as that of other
Catholics. Russia, England and China will come into the Church…”Interpreting the Three Days of darkness in a literal manner would present some serious difficulties in linking this prophecy to the election of the next pope. However I have always understood the Three Days of Darkness in various private revelations to be symbolic in nature, rather than literal. It just seems to be too extreme to imagine that God would not only flout the laws of nature in such an incredible manner, but also allow innumerable souls be carried straight to hell just for peeking out the window, or nipping down to the shops at night to pick up a few tea-bags. From the very first time hearing of the prophecies of the Three Days of Darkness, I always had an impression that they were symbolic in nature. It will be worth looking over what Bl. Anna Maria Taigi had to say concerning the Three Days of Darkness before attempting an interpretation:"God will send two punishments: one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and
other evils; it shall originate on earth. The other will be sent from Heaven.
There shall come over the whole earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness, except blessed candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy. All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. The air shall be infected by demons who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms."(Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, Private Prophecies, Rome, 1863)The Three Days of Darkness are primarily based on the ninth plague of Egypt, which interestingly enough, occurs immediately after the plague of locusts, and just before the plague of the deaths of the firstborn:Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived.(Exod 10:21-23)As we have noted in several other posts, the Book of Revelation bases much of the trumpet and bowl judgments on the ten plagues of Egypt. Just like in Exodus, the Apocalypse describes plagues of water turning to blood (Rev 8:8-9), darkness (Rev 8:12), locusts (Rev 9:1-11), sores (Rev 16:2), and frogs (Rev 16:13). In doing so, it appears to suggest that the plagues of Egypt would once again be revisited towards the end of time. In the previous post The Santorini Eruption and the Apocalyptic Plagues of Egypt, we already covered how the plagues of Egypt (including that of the "three days of darkness") were most likely caused by a massive eruption of a volcano at Thera (Santorini) circa 1500BC, and how this ties into the description of a "great mountain, burning with fire" being thrown into the sea in Rev 8:8. But while the prophecies of the Three Days of Darkness may point to a future catastrophic volcanic eruption, such as the future collapse of Cumbre Vieja (see the post Mega-tsunami); for the most part they appear to be imbued with symbolic overtones.Bl. Anna Maria Taigi tells us that God would send two punishments before the arrival of the Angelic Pope. The first is a man-made chastisement in the form of wars and revolutions (the two world wars and the revolutions of the early 20th century?), and the second - the Three Days of Darkness, would be sent from heaven itself. If the order of the plagues of Egypt have any significance in relation to the prophecies of the Three Days of Darkness, then the "wars and revolutions" may be associated with the plague of locusts which immediately precedes the plague of darkness. In the post Tunguska, Pope Leo XIII and the Opening of the Abyss, we have already went into some detail how the plague of "locusts" described in the Book of Revelation can be directly linked to the world wars of the 20th century. And as if to complete the parallel between the 1908 Tunguska event (which was accompanied by the rise of what I argue were the "Apocalyptic Locusts") with the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor strike on 15th Feb, a plague of locusts descended upon Egypt just before Passover, on the weekend beginning on 3rd Mar, 2013 (see here for details).We can find another correlation between the plague of the deaths of the first-born in this sequence (which we should note directly follows the three days of darkness in the Book of Exodus), with the introduction of the legalisation of abortion in Western society - which began with the implementation of the UK Abortion Act in April 1968. The exact same month that the (Church approved) apparitions of Our Lady of Zeitoun appeared in the location of the Holy Family's Flight to Egypt, in order to announce to the world that it was about to commit a modern-day "slaughter of the innocents" (see the earlier post on this subject here). If these connections are correct, is it possible that the Three Days of Darkness actually cover a longer period of time which began in the post-war era from the mid to late 1960's? If so, then the prophecies of the Three Days of Darkness would appear to make a lot more sense, given that this exact time period saw the beginning of the falling away of baptised Catholics from the Church en masse, in a spiritual landslide which can only be equated with the Great Apostasy foretold in Scripture. If the "darkness" depicted in these prophecies refers to spiritual darkness, rather than an actual physical lack of light, we can see how a prolonged period of time for the duration of the Three Days of Darkness would better fit the equation. We have already discussed previously how from the earliest days of the interpretation of biblical prophecy, time periods are often interchangeable with larger or smaller units of time. An oft cited example of this is found in 2Pet 3:8:"But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."The earliest, and most extensive treatment of the symbolic use of time measures in biblical prophecy was given by Tyconius in his 4th century AD work, the Book of Rules. Using Tyconius' rules of interpretation, we can thus see how the various time periods given in both the Book of Daniel and the Apocalypse can either be expanded or contracted. This expansion or contraction almost exclusively occurs in decimals of ten, but sometimes, such as in the case of Daniel's weeks of years (Dan 9:22-27), it can also be multiplied or divided by other symbolic numbers, such as seven.The Three Days of Darkness appear to be connected with the "times, time and half a time" of the Book of Daniel and the Apocalypse, which concerns a three and a half year period related to the prophecy of the abomination of desolation. Using a luni-solar calendar, the Book of Daniel calculated this three and a half year period as 1,290 days, while using a solar calendar, the Apocalypse gives it as 1,260 days (although in the post the Abomination of Desolation, I argue that even this apparent anomaly is quite deliberate). Another way the Book of Revelation expresses this time period is by calculating it as 42 months, which may be of some importance later...The three and a half years of the abomination of desolation is directly related to the three and a half years of drought sent as punishment for the apostasy of the Israelites in the 9th century BC, which was ended by Elijah's contest with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel - as was recounted by Jesus:But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.(Luke 4:25-26; cf. 1Kings 18:41ff)It is thus reasonable to assume that the end of the three and half "years" of the abomination of desolation/Three Days of Darkness would be similarly ended by the coming of the Elijah to come. And this indeed is reflected in Bl. Anna Maria Taigi's prophecy, which states that the Angelic Pope - the "holy pontiff chosen by God to withstand the storm", would appear immediately after the Three Days of Darkness, and shortly before the reign of the Antichrist:After the three days of darkness, Saints Peter and Paul, having come down from heaven, will preach throughout the world and designate a new Pope. A great light will flash from their bodies and settle upon the cardinal, the future pontiff. Then Christianity will spread throughout the world. He is the holy pontiff chosen by God to withstand the storm. At the end he will have the gift of miracles and his name shall be praised over the whole earth. Whole nations will join the Church shortly before the reign of the Antichrist.I know that a symbolic interpretation of the Three Days of Darkness isn't going to prove popular with some people (especially the beeswax candle industry), but here goes my take on this particular subject anyway...The home that we are urged not to leave during this time of darkness represents the Church itself. Outside of the Church there is no salvation, only a looming darkness which threatens to drag us away into hell. The darkness is the Great Apostasy prophesied throughout the New Testament, when driven by their own selfish egos, baptised Christians would leave the sanctuary and light of the Church, and venture out into the blinkered darkness of secular atheism:But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.(2 Tim 3:1-7)Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.(1 Tim 4:1-3)Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.(2 Thess 2:1-4)The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.(2 Thess 2:9-12)The only light that can penetrate this darkness emanates from blessed beeswax candles, which as well as representing the Church, also symbolises the light of the Gospel - which Satan seeks to obscure. During his Homily for Easter Vigil Mass, on 7th April, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI commented on the symbolic significance of beeswax candles:

The great hymn of the Exsultet, which the deacon sings at the
beginning of the Easter liturgy, points us quite gently towards a further
aspect. It reminds us that this object, the candle, has its origin in the work
of bees. So the whole of creation plays its part. In the candle, creation
becomes a bearer of light. But in the mind of the Fathers, the candle also in
some sense contains a silent reference to the Church. The cooperation of the
living community of believers in the Church in some way resembles the activity
of bees. It builds up the community of light. So the candle serves as a summons
to us to become involved in the community of the Church, whose raison
d’être is to let the light of Christ shine upon the world.

(Pope Benedict XVI, Homily for Easter Vigil Mass, Holy Saturday, 7th April, 2012. See full text here)While Matthew 12 tells us that Christ had bound the powers of Satan - the "strong man", in order to plunder his goods by allowing the light of the Gospel to spread; the Book of Revelation foretold that towards the end of time, the Devil would be unleashed for a "little while", in order to once again blind the minds of unbelievers to the Truth. At this time, the forces of Satan would surround the "beloved city" - the Heavenly Jerusalem which represents the Church, threatening to destroy it:Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.(Matt 12:29)Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.(Rev 20:1-3)And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city(Rev 20:7-9)And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.(Rev 9:1-3)And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.(2 Cor 4:3-6)It thus appears that the prophecies of the Three Days of Darkness refer to the long night-time of the Great Apostasy, which must take place before the dawn of the Second Pentecost. And there can be little doubt that we are currently enduring a spiritual dark age, with millions of baptised Catholics deliberately forsaking their faith, in order to engage in the current hedonistic excesses that are being sponsored by the consumer-driven mass media.Three days of darkness before a time of enlightenment is a recurring theme in the Bible, which all directly points to the three days of Christ's Passion, Death and Resurrection. Starting with the Agony in the Garden, Jesus had to endure terrible suffering before His death on the Cross on Good Friday. On Holy Saturday, He even descended into Sheol itself in order to free the captives that were imprisoned there (1Pet 3:19-20; 4:6). But with His glorious Resurrection on the third day, he gave us the light of eternal life.We all know that Jonah being in the belly of a great fish for three days and three nights (Jon 1:17) prefigured the Resurrection of Christ. But we can find some other biblical references to three days of darkness. The Book of Acts tells us that Saul was without sight for three days before starting his new life in Christ (Acts 9:9). The Apocalypse tells us that the Two Witnesses lie dead on the streets of Jerusalem for three and a half days before they are restored to life:For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.(Rev 11:9-11)And to borrow from the "Finding in the Temple" analogy once again, it is interesting to note that the boy Jesus was found in the Temple after three days:Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.(Luke 2:41-47)The recurring theme of "three days" in Scripture therefore almost universally focuses on a new and glorious dawn after a time of great spiritual darkness. Much like the "Dark Night of the Soul" experienced by St. John of the Cross and various other mystics, it seems that in order to attain spiritual perfection, we must endure a long night of darkness before seeing the light of union with the Creator. As St. Paul states above in 2Cor 3:4-6, the light of of the knowledge of the glory of God will eventually shine out of the darkness, just as the light of Creation was brought forth through the Eternal Logos after the Spirit moved on the face of the deep:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.(Gen 1:1-4)

Just as the Holy Family were forced to flee into Egypt to escape King Herod's slaughter of the innocents, the Book of Revelation tells us that the Woman Adorned with the Sun (who also represents the Church) would have to flee into the wilderness for "a time, times and half a time" to evade the pursuit of the Dragon:

And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.(Rev 12:13-14)

The above passage is also partially based on the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites led by Moses, who spent forty years in the desert before they could enter the Promised Land. Because of their apostasy in fashioning the Golden Calf, it was only after a period of trial, testing, and purification, that the Israelites would be allowed to enter the Holy Land. And the Holy Family were only able to return to Nazareth in Galilee after their own dark period of wandering in the wilderness, upon the death of King Herod.

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.The people who walked in darknesshave seen a great light;those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,on them has light shone.(Isa 9:1-2)

We are told that the Woman was able to escape from the river sent forth from the Dragon, because not only did the earth open its mouth to swallow the flood, but she was given the two wings of the great eagle. These two "wings" represent the Two Witnesses, who are the two healing wings of the sun of righteousness rising at the new dawn, described in the Book of Malachi:

But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts. “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”(Malachi 4:2-6)

As well as being the two olive trees that stand before the Lord of all the earth in Rev 4:11 and Zech 4:11-14, the Two Witnesses are also represented by the two trees of life in Rev 22 - whose leaves are for "the healing of the nations". In the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Tree of Life is divided into two (one of which replaces the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil spoiled by the Serpent), and it now stands as two trees on each side of the river of life, which flows forth from the throne of God and the Lamb:

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.(Rev 22:1-2)

A precursor to the Church as the Bark of St. Peter can also be found in Noah's Ark, which withstood the flood lasting forty days and nights. Seeking to find out if the waters had receded, Noah sent forth a dove, which came back with an olive leaf in its mouth:

And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.(Gen 8:11)

And as Dr. Taylor Marshall points out here, Christ's own "Dark Night of the Soul" took place amongst the olive trees of Gethsemane, during the Agony in the Garden.

As well as being intimately connected to the introduction of the new "slaughter of the innocents" that is abortion, the apparitions of Our Lady at Zeitoun between 1968-1971 also appear to have symbolised that the Church was about to endure its very own "flight into Egypt", at the beginning of the Great Apostasy. And it is noteworthy that the Arabic name zeitoun means "olives" - so this can be literally translated as "Our Lady of the Olives". There is no doubt that the wholesale collapse of Mass attendance began during this very time period (see here for example). This is almost certainly related to not only the impact of the sexual revolution of the 1960's, but also to the growth of the influence of television - which allowed Christian families to be constantly bombarded with Masonic-inspired secular values. Being immersed in this culture, which is directly transmitted into our living spaces, has gradually chipped away at the Christian faith. Could this be related to Bl. Anna Maria Taigi's prophecy concerning the Three Days of Darkness, that the"air shall be infected by demons who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms"?It seems almost certain that the prophecies of the Three Days of Darkness are chiefly concerned with a new dawn after a long, dark night of the soul for Christian culture. The superlative form in Hebrew is emphasised by a threefold repetition. So there being "three days" of darkness communicates the fact that we would have to endure the very darkest night before the dawn of the New Springtime.So taking all of the above into consideration, could Bl. Anna Maria Taigi's vision of Ss. Peter and Paul descending from heaven to designate the Angelic Pope after the Three Days of Darkness be in some way connected to the two lightning strikes on St. Peter's Basilica on the day that Pope Benedict XVI announced his abdication?“After the three days of darkness, Saints Peter and Paul, having come down from heaven, will preach throughout the world and designate a new Pope. A great light will flash from their bodies and settle upon the cardinal, the future pontiff."
We have already discussed how this event was loaded with symbolism in the earlier post here, especially when we consider another lightning strike on St. Peter's Basilica, which took place on 29th June, 1995 (the Feast of Ss. Peter and Paul), during a meeting with the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople. And this appears to be directly related to the Worthy Shepherd Prophecy and the vision of Bl. Elizabeth Canori-Mora:

On the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29, 1820, she saw Saint Peter
descending from heaven, robed in papal vestments and surrounded by a legion of
angels. With his crosier he drew a great cross over the face of the earth,
separating it into four quadrants. In each of these quadrants, he then brought
forth a tree, sprouting with new life. Each tree was in the shape of a cross and
enveloped in magnificent light.However, all will not end in this
death and destruction. After these purifying punishments, she saw Saint Peter
return on a majestic papal throne together with Saint Paul, who went through the
world shackling the devils and bringing them before Saint Peter, who cast them
back into the dark caverns from where they had come. “Then a beautiful splendor
came over the earth, to announce the reconciliation of God with
mankind.”(Bl. Elizabeth Canori-Mora)

By about twelve years shall the millennium have passed when the resplendent
mantle of legitimate power shall emerge from the shadows where it was
being kept by the schism. And beyond harm from the one who is
blocking the door of salvation, for his deceitful schism shall have
come to an end. And the mass of the faithful shall attach itself to the
worthy Shepherd, who shall extricate each one from error and restore to the
Church its beauty. He shall renew it."

(Bl. Tomasuccio de Foligno)

With these rather astounding "coincidences", it appears that God is announcing that the primary goal of the next pope is to be the reunification of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches - which ultimately concerns the fulfilment of the promise of Our Lady of Fatima:

"In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate
Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted
to the world”
(The Second Secret of Fatima)

While there is some debate as to whether or not the consecration requested by Our Lady of Fatima has already been carried out as specified, there can be little doubt that the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary carried out by Bl. Pope John Paul II in 1984 had a profound impact on the future history of Russia. Within a year, Mikhail Gorbachev was made General Secretary of the Communist Party, on 15th March 1985 - who would then put in motion a series of events that would ultimately lead to the complete dissolution of the militantly atheistic Soviet Union. Shortly after taking control of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev began to implement radical political reforms, such as Perestroika in 1986, and Glasnost in 1988, that would directly lead to the Revolutions of 1989 - which brought about the fall of Communism. Beginning in Poland (the homeland of Pope John Paul II) in 1989, the revolutions protesting against the Communist governments of the Eastern Bloc quickly spread to East Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. A situation which echoed the words of St. Faustina: "I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming.”
With the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the threat of nuclear annihilation presented by the Cold War was finally over. The Third Secret of Fatima appears to suggest that this threat had subsided directly due to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, when the flames issuing from the Angel's flaming sword threatening to consume the planet (such as was possible during the Cuban Missile Crisis), died out in contact with the radiance of Our Lady. We are told in the Third Secret that this act of mercy was to allow for a period of penance in the Era of Peace, which would involve the conversion of Russia:

After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and
a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing,
it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but
they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him
from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried
out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!'.

Without the revolutions of 1989 leading to the collapse of Communism in the Eastern Bloc, the future conversion of Russia in the healing of the East/West schism would be all but impossible.
Rather interestingly, there have been many stories related to this matter circulating around Mikhail Gorbachev's religious persuasion. On 15th March, 2008, Gorbachev made a surprise visit to the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi, stating to Italian newspaper La Stampa "St Francis is, for me, the alter Christus, the other Christ...". Adding that his "story fascinates me and has played a fundamental role in my
life". Gorbachev then went on to say "It was through St Francis that I arrived at the Church, so it was important
that I came to visit his tomb..."

Mikhail Gorbachev at the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi in 2008.

Gorbachev was particularly interested in the icon of the "Dream at Spoleto", which a pivotal moment in St. Francis' life, when he turned from the life of being a warrior and the son of a rich merchant, to embracing a calling to a new life of poverty in Christ. (See the full story on Gorbachev's pilgrimage to Assisi here).

Later in his ministry, St. Francis had famously heard a voice while praying before an ancient crucifix in the dilapidated country chapel of San Damiano, saying: "Go, Francis, and repair my house, which as you see is falling into ruin." Thinking that the voice was referring to San Damiano itself, rather than the entire Church, St. Francis then mistakenly set his efforts on attempting to restore the ruined chapel.

Could it be that Gorbachev's attempts at reforming the politics of the Soviet Union were in some way inspired by a dream or vision involving St. Francis of Assisi? A dream that would ultimately lead to the repair of God's house? If so, then this may help to explain Gorbachev's reported mea culpa before Pope John Paul II on 1st Dec, 1989 (the year of the outbreak of the revolutions against Communism), which was recounted by Sr. Lucia in relation to the significance of the Third Secret. Cardinal Bertone gives an overview of some highly relevant material pertaining to this in his book The Last Secret of Fatima:Guiseppe De Carli:Lucia adds that God's strength has enabled men to accept change and "has even moved one of the main leaders of atheist communism to travel to Rome to meet with the Holy Father and... acknowledge him as God's highest representative... to receive the embrace of peace and ask forgiveness for the mistakes of his party." She's obviously referring to the sensational meeting between Mikhail Gorbachev and John Paul II that took place in the Vatican on December 1, 1989...Cardinal Bertone:...Now as far as Gorbachev's visit to the Vatican is concerned, it's quite likely that Lucia had learned about it from someone else. And the president of the former Soviet empire may very well have offered the pope a mea culpa. After all, weren't glasnost and perestroika attempts at reform? Wasn't Gorbachev motivated by a noble, if secular, ideal, whose importance was reinforced in his mind by an awareness of the mistakes made by the Soviet Communist Party? How many Russian intellectuals have acknowledged the sins of the Communist regime? Gorbachev was too shrewd not to take responsibility for what had happened in the Soviet Union. If you have an intellectual, or an honest politician, with his back up against a wall, don't forget that he has a brain. Remember, too, that Gorbachev even wrote an article in whiche he acknowledged the role played by Pope John Paul II in the crumbling of the USSR: "And today we can say that everything that has happened in Eastern Europe in the last few years would not have been possible without the presence of this Pope, without the major role - which was also a political one - that he managed to play on the world scene." "Perestroika" means, among other things, "conversion." The fall of communism happened so quickly and so suddenly... The Communist system seemed invincible, and it looked as if it were going to endure for centuries. But then the whole thing collapsed like a house of cards. The synodal assembly of the bishops (1991) got it right: "even many nonbelievers have seen these events as a sort of miracle."(Tarcisco Card. Bertone, The Last Secret of Fatima, Doubleday, New York, 2007, pp86-87)Could all of these events be in some way connected? Could Bl. Anna Maria Taigi's vision of the election of the Angelic Pope after the Three Days of Darkness be in some way linked to the future conversion of Russia promised by Our Lady of Fatima? To answer this, we must be mindful that this event could only possibly take place after the revolutions of 1989, which directly led to the fall of Communism - and seem to be directly connected to Pope John Paul II's consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1984. In turn, we must also consider that this momentous event apparently occurred through the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi - who was told to repair the house of God.

It appears that a bridging connection linking all these events together can be found in the Gospel of St. John. In the post The Worthy Shepherd, the Great Schism, and the Millennium, we have already discussed how the story of Christ calling St. Peter recounted in Luke 5:1-11 also appears to be "enacted prophecy". The story of the large catch of fish appears to symbolise how Christ will instruct St. Peter (who represents the pope) where to cast the nets to enclose a very large number of fish (during the Second Pentecost) - so large in fact, that it would be necessary to call to the other boat (St. Andrew's?) for assistance. A parallel to this story can be found in St. John's Gospel. Only this time it is a post-Resurrection narrative, and therefore describes a different set of events. But both stories seem to point to the same future bounty of "fish" that will be caught during the Second Pentecost:

After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.(John 21:1-14)In this account, the disciples are together once again at night fishing, and fail to catch anything. This failure to make any inroads during the night also appears to represent the "Dark Night of the Soul"/Three Days of Darkness/Great Apostasy. But then suddenly, the Risen Lord appears to the disciples at the exact moment of daybreak and shows them where to cast their nets. Before the disciples can pull their heavy load in, St. Peter takes the rather curious action of dressing himself before jumping from the boat. Can we find a parallel here with Pope Benedict XVI's actions? Peter then goes on to drag the huge catch of fish to shore, and St. John recounts another bizarre bit of information - the exact number of the fish caught - 153 of them. What is the significance of this exact number? Theologians have long recognised that this number is of obvious symbolic importance. The most widely accepted answer to the enigmatic meaning of the 153 fish is that proposed by St. Jerome - that it is directly connected to a prophecy contained in the Book of Ezekiel concerning the living water flowing from the door of the Temple of God to purify the Dead Sea, so that it would be full of fish for the nets of the fishermen: Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side. Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was waist-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river. As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea; when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From Engedi to Eneglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets. Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”(Ezek 47:1-12)This prophecy in turn is directly alluded to (underlined above) in the vision of the tree of life standing either side of the river in Rev 22 - which we have noted above is directly linked to the Two Witnesses of Rev 11. The Dead Sea being purified by fresh water flowing from the door of the Temple of God is another obvious prophecy of the Second Pentecost, when the "Dead Sea" of the apostate world would be transformed by the living water of Christ. It also seems to be related to the doors of the God's Temple in heaven being opened described in Rev 11, which also appears to be related to recent events:Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.(Rev 11:19)With the abdication of the Holy Father on 28th Feb, 2013, it seems that if the
motto "Glory of the Olive" is indeed related to the Two Witnesses, then we
could perhaps interpret it as meaning that Pope Benedict is the one who opens
the door to reveal the "glory of the olive". This would then tie in with the
door being opened in the Temple in Heaven to reveal the Ark of the Covenant, and
the two cherubim on the Mercy Seat which represent the Two Witnesses - who are the two olive trees that stand before the Lord of all the earth. As we
now know, there was indeed "flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of
thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail" when Pope Benedict XVI opened the
doors of St. Peter's Basilica to make way for the next pope. Just hours after
the Holy Father announced his abdication, lightning struck St. Peter's Basilica
twice. This was followed just days later by the Chelyabinsk meteor strike, on
the 15th Feb, 2013 - which sounds incredibly similar to the plague of "heavy hail"
described in the Book of Exodus:There was
hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very
heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became
a nation.(Exod 9:24)Then an 4.8 magnitude earthquake struck just south of Rome a day later, on 16th Feb, followed by more earthquakes near Castel Gandolfo. And all of this is taking place 42 years after the last apparitions of "Our Lady of the Olives" in Zeitoun, in 1971:Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.(Rev 11:1-4)This could suggest that authority is granted to the Two Witnesses 42 years after the Great Apostasy had taken hold.Turning back to the 153 fish, there is a possibility that it could be used to calculate some highly significant historical dates. There are some other specific numbers contained in this portion of John's Gospel, which can be found in the number of those present. In all, John 21 specifically mentions seven disciples in this scene: "Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee [James and John], and two others of his disciples were together."If we multiply 153 by 7, we arrive at the sum of 1071. The date 1071AD is of great significance here, since this was exact year of the Battle of Manzikert - which saw the Byzantine Empire lose the vast majority of Anatolia. This had a catastrophic strategic effect for the future of Byzantium, that would ultimately lead to the complete collapse of the Eastern Roman Empire in 1423. After the Great Schism of 1054, the previously powerful Byzantine Empire had began to decline during the reign of Constantine IX, and the Battle of Manzikert - its first great defeat, was to have enormous repercussions. The defeat of the Byzantine army in 1071 gave the Seljuk Turkish forces an irreversible foothold over the Eastern Empire, and provided the springboard from which the Ottoman Turks would eventually overrun Constantinople in 1423.It was with the Battle of Manzikert that Christ's words begun to ring true: “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand" (Matt 12:25). The loss of Anatolia for the Byzantine Empire would ultimately provide an Islamic bulwark against the Christian Crusaders encroaching against the Holy Land, and was one of the greatest tragedies for the future destiny of Eastern Christendom. With Christianity divided against itself after a thousand years of unity, the Eastern Roman Empire was doomed to failure without the backing and political support that could have been provided by the papacy. So the figure 153 x 7 = 1071 appears to be highlighting the political aftermath of the Great Schism.If we are to include Jesus himself in any calculations concerning the 153 fish, this would bring the total figure up to 8 - which allows for yet another possible date. If we multiply 153 x 8 (the number of disciples mentioned + Jesus), it gives us the figure of 1224 - which was the exact year in which St. Francis of Assisi received his stigmata. Br. Leo, a companion to St. Francis, recounted that he received the stigmata after receiving a vision of a winged Seraph on the Feast of the Exhaltation of the Cross, while conducting a 40 day fast on the mountain of Verna (see here). This was the spiritual zenith of the life of St. Francis, and the first definite recorded instance of the phenomena of stigmata (although St. Paul was probably also stigmatic, judging by Col 1:24). We have already noted the apparent importance of St. Francis of Assisi to Mikhail Gorbachev, who by his own admission, was a figure of great influence in his spiritual life. Given that St. Francis was also told to "repair my Church, which as you can see is falling into ruin", we can see how this would then tie into the figure of 153 x 8 = 1224. So the symbolic importance of the 153 fish appears to be turning from the significance of the events of the Great Schism, to point to a desire to restore the Church and a possible link with the fall of Communism, beginning in 1989. Is this in some way alluding to the conversion of Russia promised by Our Lady of Fatima? We shall see momentarily that this does indeed seem to be the case...We can find another possible number to use in these equations if we were to assume that all of the apostles were present during this episode, and that St. John only mentioned seven of them to give a specific alternative figure. If we were to count all the apostles (minus Judas, but plus his replacement St. Matthias - who some link with Nathanael) then this gives us the possibility that 153 can also be multiplied by 12 - which would bring us up to the year 1836. It just so happens that according to most accounts, 1836 was the year in which Bl. Anna Maria Taigi received her vision of the Three Days of Darkness and the Angelic Pope coming afterwards to restore the Church before the reign of the Antichrist. So again, this would seem to point us towards how the Church is to be restored, and how St. Peter would bring to shore the net laden with the 153 fish of the Second Pentecost. It is perhaps worth mentioning here yet another different number contained in this narrative, which is likewise curiously specific in its level of detail - that the disciples were about 100 yards away from the shore with their catch of fish. However, we have to take into consideration that the original Greek of this text gives the different figure of 200 cubits - which was the actual units of measurement used at the time of writing. If we were to also interpret the 200 cubits as years, then the disciples being this distance away from the shore (at 12 x 153 = 1836) could give us a date closer to our own time for when the catch of fish is finally brought to land - 2036. As to what this could point to is open to speculation... (and I really should emphasise the point that all of this is just speculation here!). Does it mean when the period of the apostasy would end? The moment when the 153 fish are brought to shore by St. Peter and handed over to the Resurrected Christ? As Jamey pointed out in the last post (see the com-box here), periods of apostasy in the Bible are frequently associated with Jeremiah's prophecy of the seventy years of Babylonian captivity:“Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words,
behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the LORD, and for
Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against
this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will
devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an
everlasting desolation. Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and
the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride,
the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole land shall
become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon
seventy years. Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of
Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares
the LORD, making the land an everlasting waste. I will bring upon that land all
the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which
Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations."(Jer 25:8-13)The Book of Daniel goes on to use Jeremiah's seventy years of Babylonian captivity to form the basis of the prophecies of the seventy weeks and the abomination of desolation.So if the 153 fish being brought to shore by the 12 apostles marks when the period of apostasy would end, we could also possibly use this date to establish when the Great Apostasy would have began - by subtracting 70 years from 2036. Before we do so, it would perhaps be worth considering that if the period of apostasy were to end in 2036, then it would only have lasted up to the year 2035 - since 2036 would mark the beginning of a new period with the metaphorical landing of the 153 fish. So it would therefore be best to subtract 70 from 2035 to establish the closest possible date for the beginning of the Great Apostasy, and also in order to align its central hub with the turn of the millennium. When we do so, we are left with the date of 1965 for the beginning of the Great Apostasy. This would correspond almost exactly with when Mass attendance began to plummet, due to the effects of the contraceptive pill-inspired sexual revolution, combined with the explosion of the modern secular mass media in the widespread availability of television.During his eschatological discourse on Mt. Olivet, Christ specifically stated that the period of the apostasy would be cut short for the sake of the elect:And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.(Matt 24:22)Christ seems to be stating here that if the period of the Great Apostasy were to be allowed to continue for the full period of the 70 years of Babylonian captivity, then no one would be saved - not even the elect. "Saved" in this sense of the word, means saved by Christ in accepting the Gospel, rather than being saved from physical danger - which is of far less importance. If the period of the Great Apostasy were to be allowed to continue throughout the full 70 years, then even the elect would be led astray. Most theologians agree that the symbolic significance of the three and half years (or "time, times and half a time") of the abomination of desolation lies in the fact that it is exactly one half of seven - the divine number of completion in Jewish mysticism. So the number 3.5 represents incompletion, or being "cut short". In this case, the 70 years of Babylonian captivity being cut short would be represented in number symbolism by 35 years. Therefore to arrive at the time when this period of apostasy would be cut short, we must add 35 years to the date of the beginning of the desolation - which we have already established as 1965. And when we do so, we arrive at the turn of the millennium - which I argue in the book was the exact moment when Satan was cast from heaven at the end of his 100 years of greater power. It was at this point that we were given the Morning Star (which always precedes the dawn), to crush the head of the Serpent (see the post The Seven Wandering Stars and the Heads of the Dragon). The significance of this event was manifested on earth by not only the appearance of the signs in the sky, described at the opening of the sixth seal, as well as the fulfilment of numerous prophecies related to this time period; but also by the apparitions of Our Lady of Assiut - which were a brief continuation of the events at Zeitoun - "Our Lady of the Olives".Although the prophecies of the Three Days of Darkness appear to be directly related to the "time, times, and half a time" in the Book of Daniel and the Apocalypse (and would therefore be synonymous with the 35 years of apostasy leading up to the millennium), there is also the possibility that they can be used to point to another date. If the Three Days of Darkness are to be interpreted as representing three decades of darkness - three decades which are to be calculated from before the appearance of the Morning Star announcing the arrival of the new dawn in the Great Jubilee Year 2000, then we could have an alternative date concerning the start of the Great Apostasy - the year 1970; which is just before the end of the Zeitoun apparitions (see the post Our Lady of Light and the Apocalyptic Nativity). And if we use the alternative figure for the duration of the abomination of desolation, which is given in Rev 11 as 42 "months" (which is the equivalent of the three and a half years), then the "gentiles" trampling upon the Holy City would last for a period of 42 years - after which a restoration would take place. So according to this interpretation, the "trampling" of the Holy City underfoot would only last until up to the year 2012, and the restoration would begin the year after, in 2013. So this interpretation could also be used to support the Worthy Shepherd Prophecy.Also worth noting is that there appears to be a division of the period of apostasy similar to the seventy years being cut short in Rev 11:1-3 below:Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”(Rev 11:1-3)The gentiles trample on the Holy City for 42 months (which equals the "time, times and half a time", or 35 years), before the Two Witnesses are granted authority - which lasts for "1,260 days", or the remainder of the Babylonian captivity.One final number can be calculated from the 153 fish of the Second Pentecost, which helps to weave together the significance of the three other dates pertaining to this. If we are to include Jesus together with the twelve apostles, giving 13 x 153, it equals 1989 - the exact year of the fall of Communism. So the enacted parable of the 153 fish contains calculations which relate not only to the consequences of the Great Schism, St. Francis of Assisi receiving the stigmata (and the significance of repairing the Church), Bl. Anna Maria Taigi's vision of the Three Days of Darkness and the coming of the Angelic Pope, as well as Jeremiah's period of seventy years for the Babylonian captivity of the Great Apostasy; but it also points to the one single event which will pave the way for the future conversion of Russia promised by Our Lady of Fatima - the complete dissolution of the Soviet Union that was precipitated by the Revolutions of 1989. The exact year that Mikhail Gorbachev is reported to have made a mea culpa before Bl. John Paul II - which at his own suggestion, was inspired by St. Francis of Assisi.
Can we really put all of this down to mere coincidence?

That's amazing about Mt. Etna Sr. Lorraine! Especially given that most of these events are concentrated in Italy (with the exception of the locust plague in Egypt - but that's very symbolic in itself). It's all very Book of Exodus/theophany at Mt. Sinai, isn't it? I wonder does it signal that the Church is about to start a new Exodus, leading us out from our bondage in the "Egypt" of apostasy, towards the "Promised Land" of the Era of Peace?The Woman escaping into the wilderness in Rev 12, being given the "two wings", is also partially based on the story of the Exodus:

"You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself."(Exod 19:4)

Just noticing that this is in close proximity to a recurrence of the "third day" motif:

"And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.”"When Moses told the words of the people to the LORD, the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.(Exod 19:9-11)

The "washing of garments" theme in the Book of Revelation is usually associated with the Second Pentecost, when the Bride is allowed to purify herself, and be dressed in pure linen in preparation to meet the Groom:

"Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints."(Rev 19:7-8)

Emmet, a fascinating post, thank you. Re: great hail - have you seen this video of ice boulders on Lake Michigan? Thanks for all your research, Marie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djLfrsb9CvQ&feature=player_embedded#t=38s

I believe that the "two witnesses" are in fact the Old Testament figures, Enoch and Elijah. In Genesis 5:21-24 we read:

"When Enoch was sixty-five years old he became the father of Methuselah. Enoch walked with God. After the birth of Methuselah helived for three hundred years and he became the father of sons and daughters. In all, Enoch lived for three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God. then he vanished because God took him."

Now, some would say that by "vanished" the author of Genesis means "died." But anyone who has read chapter 5 of Genesis knows that off all the patriarchs that are listed only Enoch is said to have "vanished". All the rest - Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared - are said to have "died". In other words, Enoch is still alive today, ready to return to earth during the sequence of events specified in the book of Revelation as one of the Two Witnesses.

In Ecclesiasticus chapter 44 verse 16 we read that:

"Enoch pleased the Lord and was taken up, an example for the conversion of all generations."

St. Paul tells us in Hebrews 11:5 that Enoch has not died:

"It was because of his faith that Enoch was taken up and did not have to experience death: he was not to be found because God had taken him."

Just on a quick side note, I am of the opinion that the patriarch Enoch was also one of the Nephilim mentioned in Genesis 6:1-4:

"When men had begun to be plentiful on the earth, and daughters had been born to them, the sons of God, looking at the daughters of men, saw they were pleasing, so they married as many as they chose. Yahweh said, 'My spirit must not for ever be disgraced in man, for he is but flesh; his life shall last no more than a hundred and twenty years'. The Nephilim were on the earth at that time (and even afterwards) when the sons of God resorted to the daughters of men, and had children by them. These are the heroes of days gone by, the famous men."

There is really nothing mysterious at all about the Nephilim. The key to understanding who they are is understanding that the patriarchs mentioned in chapter 5 actually did live hundreds of years. This was not metaphorical language, as evidenced by the fact (as in the quote from Genesis 6 above) that at a certain point God decided to shorten the lifespan of mankind to around 120 years. The reason that the Nephilim lived so long is that they lived in very close proximity to the time of Adam.

Now, back to the Two Witnesses. The Patriarch Enoch is the first Witness. The prophet Elijah is the second Witness. In 2 Kings 2:11 we read:

"Now as they walked on, talking as they went, a chariot of fire appeared and horses of fire, coming between the two of them; and Elijah went up to heaven in the whirlwind."

In Ecclesiasticus 48:9-12 we read that Elijah was:

"taken up in the whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with fiery horses; designated in the prophecies of doom to allay God's wrath before the fury breaks, to turn the hearts of fathers towards their children, and to restore the tribes of Jacob. Happy shall they be who see you, and those who have fallen asleep in love; for we too will have life."

So, that is what Sacred Scripture says. What about Sacred Tradition?

St. Irenaeus, a student of St. Polycarp (who was a disciple of the Apostle John)says the following:

"The disciples of the Apostles say that they (Enoch and Elijah) whose living bodies were taken up from the earth, have been placed in an earthly paradise, where they will remain until the end of the world."

St. Thomas Aquinas says:

"Ejijah was raised into the aerial, not the empyrean heaven, which is the abode of the Saints, and in like manner Enoch was carried away to a terrestrial paradise, where he and Elijah, it is believed, will live together until the coming of the Antichrist."

Emmett, what you say above about the Exodus is very interesting. In reading about Zeitoun, one source I saw said that it is near the place the Holy Family is said to have stopped on their flight into Egypt. And that's like a re-enactment in Jesus' life of the Exodus itself.

I still have to read the whole post more carefully. There's a lot to reflect on!

One small note: today I was talking with a Jewish woman who is from Israel and I asked her about the olive trees there; would the phrase "the glory of the olive" mean anything to her?She said that olives are very important to the people in terms of food, oil, etc. She also said that they make crowns out of the olive leaves, like for athletic events. That's an interesting twist on it. Going back to that oracle to the Church in Philadelphia, if it does relate to Benedict as we were discussing, it says "let no one take your victor's crown away from you." So if the crown is made of olive leaves, that could be another meaning to "glory of the olive." It also makes me think of St Paul, 1 Cor 9:25, "Run so as to win!"

I found one other thing too. Jeremiah 11:16 says "Green olive tree covered in fine fruit" was the Lord's name for you. With a shattering noise he has set fire to it, its branches are broken."This was in reference to the Babylonian exile to come. So if the exile is like the olive tree burning up, maybe the glory of the olive is the return from exile, the restoration. Perhaps Benedict's restoration of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass could be involved somehow. Or maybe, as you say if Benedict is the one opening the door to the glory of the olive, then indeed we are on the cusp of the Second Pentecost, the restoration of the Church from the exile of the great apostasy. Let's hope for that!

Another reference to the third day: "On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there...." (Jn 2:1ff.)

On that third day, Jesus "revealed his glory." And Mary was instrumental in making this happen.

Emmett, I don't know if the locutions at locutions.org are authentic or not, but they tie into your analysis. They speak of the next Pope having as his task the consecration of Russia that Mary asked for at Fatima; this would seem to be connected to the conversion of the Orthodox and the reunion of East and West. That's why I think the next pope will be from one of the Eastern rites. Just like John Paul was from communist Poland and helped bring about the downfall of communism, perhaps an Eastern rite Pope could help bring about the healing of the schism.

Sr. Lorraine,Along that line of thought (an Eastern Rite Pope), Benedict recently made Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites a Cardinal in Nov 2012. And just for fun, to tie him into the alleged St. Malachy propechy....Boutros means Peter. ;-)

I recently discovered locutions.org from a link on another Catholic blog that I respect. I have wanted to pass the website on to you, Emmett, as it seems to tie into some of what you have written about on this blog.

I tend to be pretty hesitant about giving much credence to newer private revelations, but I have not read anything in these locutions that is contrary to the Faith and much to pray about and ponder. What do you think, Emmett?

Thanks for your critique S Bus.Yes, some of the material above was a recap of previous posts, but any "cutting and pasting" was limited to quotes of prophecies. My intention was to attempt to draw together a large amount of material together on a single blog post, because I believe it is all related. If you found it rambling, I'm very sorry about that. As for leading people astray, I've made it quite clear that all of this material is purely my personal opinions/interpretations, and I am quite aware that I may be wrong in many respects. I get the impression by this, you mean that you are a supporter of the Maria Divine Mercy messages, and that you believe that the next pope will be the false prophet, rather than possibly being the Angelic Pope. If so, I would suggest that you are the one who has been led astray, and I pray that you will not be dragged into schism by this person.

Thanks! There are a lot of people like yourself that believe Elijah and Enoch will literally return in person. Teaching on this hasn't been defined yet by the magesterium, so there's no right or wrong answers on either side. As I'm sure you're aware, even the Church Fathers disagreed widely with one another in certain respects - this is just the nature of theology, which to an extent is based largely on speculation. But I find that there are several serious flaws in the proposal that Elijah and Enoch will physically return from heaven to begin the Second Pentecost. I'll very briefly focus on one of them. Jesus explicitly identified St. John the Baptist as the Elijah to come:

"Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (Matt 11:11-15)

"And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.(Matt 17:9-13)

It should be noted that the latter passage concerns the Transfiguration, after the disciples had seen Elijah and Moses. They were puzzled, because Elijah was supposed to come before Christ, and they had not seen him before. But then Jesus points out that he had come, and that the new Elijah was St. John the Baptist.Now we all know that St. John the Baptist wasn't literally Elijah come back down from heaven, since the Gospels give a clear account of his birth. And we can rule out any early Christian beliefs in reincarnation. So we are left to conclude that Jesus viewed the "Elijah to come" as a symbolic role, of someone who would prepare the way for the coming of Christ (both times), by calling the people out of apostasy, and conducting a ministry of repentance.The Angel Gabriel had told Zechariah (the father of John the Baptist) that his son would come in the "spirit and power" of Elijah:

And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”(Luke 1:16-17)

Judging by this example, the "Elijah to come" before the Second Coming of Christ, would also be in the "spirit and power" of Elijah to restore the Church, rather than a literal reappearance of this Old Testament prophet - which I think would be rather bizarre and unnecessary. God can raise up a prophet like Elijah any time he chooses. The aspects of the ascension of Elijah and Enoch should be considered to be a symbolic parallel to the Two Witnesses - who also ascend into heaven:

"But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them."(Rev 11:11-12)

Given that Catholic private revelations tell us that the Angelic Pope and Great Monarch will restore the Church at the end-time, before the Second Coming and the appearance of the Antichrist, then it is logical to equate these figures with the new Elijah and "Enoch". Although, I would further suggest, that the "Enoch" figure will be the new prophet like Moses, prophesied by Moses himself:

“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him."(Deut 18:15-19)

Thanks for sharing these important insights Sr. Lorraine! This brings up a lot for reflection. Yes, I believe that the return of the TLM could be a great blessing for the Church, and may be largly involved in the Second Pentecost. I would imagine that a return to Latin chant during Mass would be very inspiring to a lot of people, and bring back a sense of the sacred.I hadn't thought of the Wedding at Cana on the "third day" - but this is a perfect parallel. Especially since I believe that the Wedding Feast of the Lamb is the Second Pentecost:

"Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” (Rev 19:9)

Regarding the apparent conflict with John the Baptist as Elijah, I would cite something that Scott Montgomery wrote in 2007:

"In regard to this last passage [Matthew 11:11-15], the Church has taught throughout the centuries that Jesus is speaking about two separate events. When He says that 'Elijah has already come', He is referring to St. John the Baptist; when He declares that 'Elijah indeed shall come', He is speaking of Elijah the Thesbite. As it was the mission of John the Baptist to herald the first coming of Christ, so it will be the special task of Elijah to herald His second coming. 7 (Ibid, Page 271). But this time there will be two heralds since two different groups of people will be addressed:

The conversion of the Jews is to be the special work of Elijah, and that of the Gentiles of Enoch; for which purpose these two prophets will be peculiarly adapted, Enoch, the seventh from Adam, representing the uncircumcision, and Elijah the circumcision. Enoch was translated that he may give repentance to the nations, and Elijah that he may restore the tribes of Israel...The period during which Enoch and Elijah are to exercise their office is one thousand two hundred and sixty days; a space of time corresponding with the duration of Christ's public ministry. 8 (Ibid, Pages 274-275).

During this time they will be in direct competition with the Antichrist for the souls of men. The purpose of God in sending them is to strengthen the faith of those who already believe, and to give those who do not one last chance to accept Jesus as the Messiah before the Final Judgment."

A majority of the Church Fathers and Doctors concur with the literal interpretation of the Two Witnesses as Enoch and Elijah

Pope St. Pius X makes the following comment about the Modernist Scripture scholars:

"To hear them talk about their works on the Sacred Books, in which they have been able to discover so much that is defective, one would imagine that before them nobody ever glanced through the pages of Scripture, whereas the truth is that a whole multitude of Doctors, infinitely superior to them in genius, in erudition, in sanctity, have sifted the Sacred Books in every way, and so far from finding imperfections in them, have thanked God more and more the deeper they have gone into them, for His divine bounty in having vouchsafed to speak thus to men."

Hello Emmett,This morning at Mass the first reading from Hosea says that Israel will have "the splendor of the olive tree." That really hit me when I heard it!It ties into the idea of the restoration of Israel (and by extension the Church) as being the glory of the olive.

Peter, I have been thinking of Cardinal al-Rahi as the next pope. It would make a lot of sense. And the reading this morning mentions Lebanon three times, right in between the "splendor of the olive"! Maybe a coincidence but maybe not!

the prophecies of malachy (or as it's nowadays pronounced malarkey as a synonym for nonsense) are about to be proven as true or false....according to malachy there are NO more popes on the list..the next pope completes the prophecy....

The unprecedented abdication of pope benedict can be viewed in various ways , he's old he's tired and wise to allow another younger man to represent the church,or perhaps he is aware of what is to come....

Most popes reign for about 10/15 years....if the fatima prophecies and malachy prophecies are occurring we are ahead of schedule so to speak....

in 1978 (known as the year of the 3 popes)John Paul 2nd became the 3rd pope of that year..... John Paul I was elected to replace Pope Paul V1........

aged only 65 yrs John Paul 1 was expected to reign perhaps 15 years at least...to the date of 1993....

the following pope would also reign for say 15 years to the date 2008 the next pope..(the penultimate pope of the Malachy list) would therefore reign for say 15 years to the date 2023....

this is the date that the last pope would be elected....as you can see we are 10 years ahead at least....there should also be a period of time were the new popecirca 2023..would reign and begin his apostasy)maybe straight away or perhaps a few years into his papacya date somewhere around 2028 maybe ?

if the apocalypse has begun we are in the early days of it.....

is it survivable..who knows , in truth all anyone can do is "Know thyself"

symbolism will abound as events unfold, meteors in the sky,it seems 2013 is to be the year of the comet...always known as portents of doom are they the herald we should heed,

perhaps , perhaps not......

the significance of pope benedicts' actions in abdicating cannot be dismissed,

if a guess had to be made i personally would be looking at a division in the conclave choosing benedicts' successor,and a possible schismwere by both sides reject the others' choice leading to apostasy charges etc and a major split within the administration of the Holy See.....

are we about to see a pope renounce the required vows of chastity,shall we see female priests, the need may be there but the split it would cause would divide the church on a par with the reformation of henry 8th and the emergence of lutherism and the establishment of the anglican church of england (though henry 8th remained a catholic til his death)

the scandals of the catholic church have forced it to choose its next pope carefully,

too much is known for it to be ignored or whitewashed,it must be fixed and seen to be fixed otherwise the catholic church will enter the 21st century as a cultrapidly fading into memory as an organsation run by men with criminal intent.

I think that many respectable people are looking on locutions.org favourably. It certainly seems to tie in perfectly with a lot of my theories - especially about the next pope.I wouldn't throw myself 100% behind them just yet, but there are certainly worth studying. I think this also answers your question Robin.

Thanks for pointing out the "heavy hail" on Lake Michigan Marie - I'll have to take a closer look at that.

Today's Mass reading from Hosea is very striking! The passage even speaks of the healing of apostasy!

"I will heal their apostasy;I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily;he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain;they shall blossom like the vine;their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.(Hos 14:4-7)

And dwelling beneath the Lord's shadow - this is a clear allusion to other biblical passages which describe Israel being beneath the protective wings of God! So this brings us back to the Woman Adorned with the Sun being given the two wings/Two Witnesses:

"Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,till the storms of destruction pass by."(Psalm 57:1)

It also makes me think of St. Paul's prophecy of the conversion of the Jews - the "cultivated olive" branches being grafted back into the roots after the "wild olives" of the Church were grafted in when the branches were cut off (this passage also quickly follows mention of Elijah):

So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.(Rom 11:11-24)

I have to agree with Miltonic about Elias and Enoch. The history of Elias the prophet does not end with his assumption, for he makes an appearance in the New Testament as well. He and Moses converse with Jesus at His Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor (Matthew 17:3), as witnesses of the divinity of the Son of God. Afterwards, the Apostles question Our Lord about Elias. "Why then do the scribes say that Elias must come first?" (Matthew 17:10) They refer to the prophecy of Malachias: "Behold, I will send you Elias the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." (Malachias 4:5) Jesus assures them that Elias has preceded him in person of the John the Baptist (Matthew 17:12), who had the "spirit and power of Elias." (Luke 1:17)

However, Our Lord makes it clear that "Elias indeed shall come and restore all things." (Matthew 17:11) According to the scripture scholar Fr. Herman Kramer: "'John the Baptist did not usher in the great and dreadful day of the Lord,' as was foretold of Elias. That day will be the destruction of Antichrist...." (Fr Herman Kramer, The Book of Destiny, 1975)

Most of the early fathers of the Church identify Elias as one of the "two witnesses" in Chapter 11 of the Apocalypse, who do battle with the Antichrist. The two witnesses are martyred by the son of perdition, but their resurrection and ascension into Heaven ushers in the final defeat of "the beast." (see Apocalypse 11) The exact manner in which such cryptic prophecies will be fulfilled remains to be seen. It is interesting, however, that Carmelites have always used red vestments on July 20 in honor of the martyrdom of Elias that is to come.

Thanks, Emmett, that whole passage from Hosea is indeed very striking. I also like the way you tie it in to St. Paul's use of the olive tree in Romans. I wonder if the conversion of the Jews might also happen under the Worthy Shepherd pope.

Here's another quote from Hosea, about the third day. 46 references came up for "third day" in the Bible.

“Come, let us return to the Lord; for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord; his appearing is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hos 6:1-3)

However I have always understood the Three Days of Darkness in various private revelations to be symbolic in nature, rather than literal. It just seems to be too extreme to imagine that God would not only flout the laws of nature in such an incredible manner, but also allow innumerable souls be carried straight to hell just for peeking out the window, or nipping down to the shops at night to pick up a few tea-bags. EMMETT THINK OF LOT'S WIFE WHO WAS TRANSFORMED INTO A PILLAR OF SALT BECAUSE SHE LOOKED BACK TO WATCH GOD'S PUNISHMENT ON SODOM AND GOMORRHA AFTER GOD TOLD THEM NOT TO LOOK BACK. RIVKA. We have blessed wax candles for those days if we are still alive and I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna look at God's wrath. Rivka

Given all your research into the French Monarchy, I'd love to hear your views on the Great Monarch. Have you read John Bird's book on this subject?I am open to being wrong, but in my view, the fact that Christ explicitly identified St. John the Baptist as Elijah makes it highly likely that the Elijah to come will also come in the "spirit and power" of Elijah, rather than being an actual, literal reemergence of Elijah the Tishbite.The Gospels suggest that the disciples had some trouble in accepting that St. John the Baptist was Elijah, since there was a widespread belief even then that Elijah the Tishbite would reemerge from heaven to prepare the way for the Messiah. Jesus identifying St. John the Baptist as Elijah was a somewhat revolutionary idea to some of them - which is why Christ said "if you will accept it" - followed by the call for understanding, which follows words of prophetic importance:

"For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and IF YOU ARE WILLING TO ACCEPT IT, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.(Matt 11:13-15)

This suggests that some of the disciples were unwilling to accept that John the Baptist was Elijah, because it challenged their deep-seated convictions that Elijah the Tishbite would literally reappear from heaven. I believe that if one of the Two Witnesses really were a literal reappearance of Elijah the Tishbite, then this would contradict Jesus identifying St. John the Baptist as Elijah. To me, it would mean that St. John the Baptist wasn't really the promised Elijah who would "make the paths straight" before the Coming of the Messiah, but some kind of lesser figure who merely prefigures the final coming of the real Elijah. Rather, I believe that one of the Two Witnesses will be Elijah in the same sense that St. John the Baptist was Elijah, and that all three figures are equal in importance.In Mal 4, we are told that it is this final Elijah that will restore all things before the Day of the Lord - as is further confirmed by Jesus in Matt 17. But all the private revelations concerning the Angelic Pope state that it will be this Holy Pontiff who will bring about the promised restoration - which is why I make the connection between the two (since there won't be two restorations). And that the Angelic Shepherd also seems to be related to the martyr-pope of various private revelations, including the Third Secret - who, like the Two Witnesses, is killed in Jerusalem.Furthermore, we can find further confirmation the second of the Two Witnesses won't actually be a literal reappearance of Enoch, because the Book of Acts makes it clear that "the restoring of all things" will also be brought about by the promised prophet like Moses:

"Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people."(Acts 3:19-23)

This is the significance of Moses and Elijah appearing at the Transfiguration - because they symbolise the prophet like Moses and the Elijah to come appearing before the final Coming of Christ in His glorified form.

I suppose we will only truly know when the Second Pentecost does take place. If people start flocking to the Catholic Church because of the actions of a very holy pope, and Elijah the Tisbite hasn't actually appeared in person by then along with Enoch, then I think it would be safe to say that this pope is the promised Elijah.

You're right about Lot's wife! I suppose anything is possible with God. My point is that a lot of prophecies in the Bible are meant to be understood on a symbolic level, so the Three Days of Darkness could also have a symbolic meaning.Rest assured, if I look out my window at nine o'clock one morning and it's still pitch black outside, I won't be leaving the house for the next three days! (Unless I move to Greenland, then it might be OK...).And I suppose it doesn't do any harm to have blessed candles about the house either...

Thanks for pointing to that other important passage in Hosea! I remember thinking of this in relation to the Second Pentecost before, but I had forgotten about it...Roger Bacon's Compendium of Study (which was one of the first works to mention the Angelic Pope) suggests that the Pastor Angelicus would also convert the Jewish people:

"A very holy pope will first come who will remove all the corruptions in education and the Church and all the rest. Then the world will be renewed and the fullness of peoples will enter in; even the remnants of Israel will be converted to the faith."

I'll have to try to bring all this material together in another post - I think it is important.

From what I have found only one pope has been called Pastor Angelicus by the Lord in what would seem a genuine vision/locution to the stigmatist Venerable Elena Aiello - Pope Pius XII:

"The Governors of nations are anxious to acquire new territories. Poor, blind men! They do not know that where there is no God, there can be no real conquest! In their hearts there is nothing but ill-will, and they do nothing but outrage Me, deride Me, and treat Me as of little consequence. They are demons of discord, subverters of nations, and they seek to overwhelm in the terrible scourge Italy too, where God is in the midst of so many souls, and where there is the seat of My Vicar, Pastor Angelicus."

Fair pat on the back coming from JC himself.

This makes me think of Emmett's references to there being a line of holy angelic popes in the end times (although Paul VI was quite suspect imo) and given there is one to come to restore the Church.

churchmilitant.tv with some interesting material atm, got thinking of the Angelic Pope when seeing the following clip regarding Cardinal Burke as potential pope:

The reality of life today is that mankind is spread all over the globe and what effects one group / tribe etc of people may never be known let alone incur, upon the lives of others,

therefore any global event would need to be total and all encompassing.

something similar to whatever finished off the dinosaurs...

and as NASA appear to be aware of all the bigger than one mile near earth objects it's unlikely a global catastrophe will occur from the sky....

obviously one might just turn up outa the blue but ...it's unlikely....

so what form will the apocalypse take?

"3 days of darkness where no man made light will work"...

Is that a computer shut down...seems everything's run by computers nowadaysand if a cyber war involved shutting down electric gas etc power plants ...that would lead to a serious problem....for many but not all...

there's much to ponder....

End of the world prophets seem not to understand the world clock,the recent Mayan "end of the world" event was ridiculed for many reasons,the question of ....

"Will it be midnight in europe or south america or mid day in australia etc etc" ...

the time zones ...of which the mayans were completely unaware , made a mockery of precise prophecy...

the same applies to much of the literal interpretation of biblical prophecy,the bible is NOT a verbatim document and therefore cannot be read nor interpreted literally,

it can argued otherwise til the cows come home but it's a fact...the bible is not fact.

however the letter written containing the vision of fatima ARE fact,whether the visions were real or imagined ..what was "seen" was written by the seer....

however, if the "revealed" secrets are read literally..........much of it doesn't stand up as they say....

"a crystal aspersorium"

what a beautiful phrase...such eloquent articulation from portugese peasant children...

It's interesting that Bl. Elena stated that Jesus called Pius XII Pastor Angelicus during a vision. If this is genuine (and the fact that she was beatified would help to confirm this), then it would support St. Malachy's list of popes, whose motto for Pius XII is Pastor Angelicus. This could be very important - thanks for pointing it out!Filipino Cardinal Luis Tagle might be another interesting papal candidate for Traditionlists, given his connections with the Bologna School. Could be a bit of dark horse in this respect...

Fed,

I've been puzzling over why St. Peter would put on his outer garments to jump into the sea. What you have said makes sense. I would love for the old sacramentals to come back, and to see a traditional papal coronation. Perhaps it could also refer in some way to Pope Benedict XVI's Moto Proprio concerning the Latin Mass. We can only live in hope...

Emmett, I don't want to over-emphasize the locutions at locutions.org, because I don't know if they're authentic or not. But the latest one about the pope ties in to your ideas about the new Pentecost. This is supposedly a message from Jesus:

"The hour is at hand when all the love that I have in my heart will pour out over all the Church. Benedict has made this possible by his resignation. Suddenly, the Chair of Peter is empty. The Church has no human leader. All the world awaits the decision of the cardinals. An opening exists. The Church is praying and expecting. I will give the Church more than a new pope. This is the moment of an extraordinary action of my Spirit. All will see, whether they are Catholics or not, that I have done what was never expected.

This will open my Church to a new expectancy. If I have taken this surprise action at the highest level of my Church, will I not do the same at every level? All will see that the Holy Spirit has acted in a unique manner. Everyone’s eyes will be open. A new era will begin when every Catholic will once more be open to the actions of the Holy Spirit."

Emmett, just throwing this into the mix... Our Lady first appeared in Medjugorje on June 24, 1981, the Feast Day of the birth of St. John the Baptist. I believe She says that this will be Her last place of apparition. Could She not be one of the Witnesses? If so, could not any current apparitions of Jesus be the 'Other Witness'. The 'killing' of these witnesses would be their denouncement by a (mistaken)Church authority - if of course one believes them to be authentic!This might just be a case of over-speculation but I can't deny that it has entered my mind a couple of times.

Before I come as the just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy. Before the day of justice arrives, there will be given to people a sign in the heavens of this sort:

All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings where the hands and the feet of the Savior were nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. This will take place shortly before the last day.

When I was in my early twenties (long time ago in the 1960's) I had once a dream in which I saw Jesus on the Cross in the Sky to be seen for the whole world. In the sky accompanying Jesus on the Cross the words TRUTH.The world which was dark was covered with the words LIES. I had no clue what this all meant, but I can see it still very clearly in my mind's eye.Rivka

Yes, I think the locutions that are being backed by Mgr. Esseff do fit in very well with my theories concerning the Angelic Pope/martyr-pope of various private revelations. I was surprised at how closely they matched when I first came across them, since I had already long since composed the material in my book on this subject. They are definitely worth studying, and don't seem to contain anything contrary to faith or morals, or anything that could potentially incur schism.

Your dream seems to tie in with my idea that "darkness" can symbolise the spiritual blindness of secular atheism:

"Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."(2 Thes 2:11-12)

It is interesting you had this dream in the 1960's - which it seems was the beginning of the Great Apostasy.And of course the Gospel of Christ Crucified is the only true light that can illuminate the world:

For THE WORD OF THE CROSS IS FOLLY TO THOSE WHO ARE PERISHING, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.(1 Cor 1:18-25)

In olden days travellers wandered the earth , and often at the crossroads they would meetand rest awhile and share and swap tales of what they'd seen and where they'd been,of what they knew and of what they didn't knowand then after a while they would rise and depart on their merry way probably never to meet again.....

such are the internet forums of today...

"your in depth study of what may be to come is very good Emmet...

you're ideas and conjunctions may indeed come to pass... we shall see....

perhaps we are closer to finding out whether they're true or not than many realise,

regardless of whether the prophecy's are true, the fact is at this moment in time the world sits on the edge of a very serious problem...

Thanks for pointing out that the first reading for the first day of conclave was Ezek 47! This does seem to be significant, doesn't it? That the living water issues from the Temple of God to refresh the "Dead Sea" appears to suggest that the "time of refreshing" would involve the papacy...

I hope so Emmett, Tom. Feeling anxious about this conclave. Will God give humanity the pope it needs or deserves. Some of the cardinals are cut from the right cloth, a few others would be an unmitigated disaster.

I think a lot of us are anxious about this Conclave. I can't take my eyes off the tv and internet!

Also though I think Gods greatest works, in our times, are about to take shape. Just going by the last 2 popes we've had God has given us exactly what we needed. To me it's a sort of slow process bringing back the Spritual, Charismatic, philosophical element of the Church through JPII, and then the Traditional, evangelistic, more theological in BXVI.

It seems to me God is setting up a Pope who will have a combination of both of these great men. A man who will not not only build on what they have done, but enforce and push out the wolves.

To me Burke or Arinze would be those men...Is there maybe someone in the shadows we don't know about?

I'm very excited to find out! It just may take some time to sort through the hearts of the Cardinals.

Here's an article that shows how serious the Cardinals are taking this http://themoynihanletters.com/from-the-desk-of/letter-41-pray-for-us

Likewise I am peeled to the internet, keep watching broadcast of a chimney - it feels something big is about to happen especially after the lightning strikes, the earthquakes and the thunder. Sleep is not on the menu tonight.

I also like the sound of Tagle and was quite touched seeing him help an older cardinal walk - he exuded an aura of holiness. Arinze I have heard isn't keen on the TLM but again someone else said this was conjecture - Arinze does speak with conviction. If Burke or Ranjith get it I will be excited about the prospect of the second pentecost:

Church and State were formally separated during the Portuguese First Republic (1910–1926),

"The constitution generally accorded full civil liberties, the religious liberties of Catholics being an exception.

The Republic provoked important fractures within Portuguese society, notably among the essentially monarchist rural population, in the trade unions, and in the Church.

The republic established was anticlerical and had a "hostile" approach to the issue of church and state separation,like that of the French Revolution"

@wiki First Portuguese Republic

so it would seem that at the time of the visions portugal was in the midst of a "revolution"....

of which the three children would be aware of, without perhaps, understanding the reasons causes and potential threats

but the children's parents would have been aware of the threat to catholics and roman catholicism.

so the political climate the children were living in was similar to perhaps syria today...

the children of syria know something's happening but they don't really know why their homes are being bombed and their parents killed etc they only know what they're told and that only comes from a one sided bias..

which side is right or wrong is immaterial to this fatima post..it's just an example of etc...

the 3rd secret was not written until 26 yrs after the event.

the 2nd secret was not released until the second world war was half way through...

the 1st secret wasn't written until at least Lucia had learned to read and write ...

The 3 children were from families of peasant farmersthe year was 1917,

Lucia was aged 10yrs old.

wiki@ "Lúcia Santos was "religous " aged only 6yrs old she had a talent for composing original songs, with catchy folk-style tunes and sacred and secular lyrics".

Among the songs she invented as a small child are "In Heaven, I'll Be With My Mother", "I Love God in Heaven", and "Lady of Carmel"

"Lucia's mother(Maria Rosa) had a taste for religious literature and storytelling.

She gave catechism lessons to her children and the neighbour's children,

Lúcia's mother did not take kindly to the news that her youngest daughter was having visitations, believing that Lúcia was simply making up lies for attention.

Heretofore the favorite, Lúcia suffered beatings and ridicule from her mother. She was especially incredulous of the idea that Lúcia had been asked to learn to read and write".

this was a child with a very creative mind,a child who remembers her father telling many "fairy tales and singing folk songs",a child whose mother was literate, although she never taught her children to read.

Jacinta and Francisco were the other two "visionary's"

the paragraph titled "Illness and death" ( @ wiki )is humbling and sad to see what both children endured in their short life.....

this was the enviroment and life that they were living at the time of their visions...

and it's to be remembered also that at this time the first world war had been ongoing for 3 years ...peasants or not, most people were aware of a "terrible war" occurring across europe.

jacinta was 7 yrs old and francisco was 10 yrs old.

The secrets of fatima, exalted revered and feared by catholics the world over due to the reverence and creedence given to them by the Holy See.....................these secrets were the visions of three children under the age of 10 yr old.

three children who lived their lives in a world of fairy tales, religious tracts political and religious revolution and a very catholic fear of god's wrath.

the paragraph titled "Illness and death" ( @ wiki )is humbling and sad to see what both children endured in their short life.....

this was the enviroment and life that they were living at the time of their visions...

and it's to be remembered also that at this time the first world war had been ongoing for 3 years ...and peasants or not, most people were aware of a "terrible war" occurring across europe.

jacinta was 7 yrs old and francisco was 10 yrs old.

The secrets of fatima, exalted revered and feared by catholics the world over due to the reverence and creedence given to them by the Holy See,

these secrets were the visions of three children under the age of 10 yr old.

three children who lived their lives in a world of fairy tales, religous tracts political and religous revolution and a very catholic fear of god's wrath.

.......................................................The First Secret.

A Vision of Hell.

"Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth.

Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration,

now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear.

The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant".

this is standard fire and brimstone....used through the ages to control and instill fear and obedience into the masses,preached by many not least the conqusitadors of the spanish inquisitors...

it says nothing new and if a child today was asked to describe what hell was like they would probably describe a similar scene

without the eloquence, (which clearly wasn't written by a ten year old peasant child learning to read)...

"without weight or equillibrium"...

the real question is when was the first secret written?

it may have have been told by, but it certainly wasn't written by lucia aged ten year old,so it was written from memory at a later date.

a british policeman carries a black notebook,he writes down the events that occur at the time,in court he reads from the notebookhe is not allowed to alter or add to those notesand would certainly not be allowed to write a report from memory many years after the event.

this is to prevent deliberate or accidental embellishment,exaggeration or etc etc ...

"Archbishop Capovilla clearly suggests that the hidden text of the Third Secret was not published because it was thought that Sr. Lucia was mistaken on a few points in it, and that it therefore could not be part of the authentic text -but rather Lucia's own thoughts".

"You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.

If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pope Pius XI.

When you see a night illumined by an unknown light*, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.

To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the Consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays.

If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world".

THE SECOND SECRET ...is it really worth examining as the pronunciations of The Blessed Virgin Mary

it wasn't released until 1941 ..half way through world war 2

are we expected to believe that Our Lady was concerned witha geo political land mass known collectively as Russia,that ultimately would prove (with the collapse of communism)to be of NO threat to world peace....

the book of revelations refer to the "red threat"..

and for many years russia has been seen as "red".....

china however was never mentioned..they are indeed a "Red Threat" to world peace...

was the blessed virgin unaware of china ?

The second secret was a statement that World War I would end and goes on to predict another war, World War II during the reign of Pope Pius XI, should men continue offending God and should Russia not convert. The second half requests that Russia be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart:pope pius XI was 6 months dead before the second world war began...

russia may well have been consecrated to the Immaculate Heart by johnpaul 2but it certainly hasn't converted to roman catholicism

so that's two strikes...one more and you're out kinda thing...

the 2nd secret appears to be an imaginative piece of scaremongering propaganda

so ...god was going to punish his own followers..or did the virgin mary (who was born jewish) did she mean god was going to punish anyone who wasn't a christian...and that the pope would be persecuted ?

"The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pope Pius XI"

this was clearly written whilst pope pius xi was alive...so it was written before feb 1939.

Mary (and by default Lucia ..)was unaware that pius ..her sons' representative on earth was going to die before the war began

Mary,the mother of god, was wrong !!

really ?

"If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace;"

russia was consecrated by John Paul2 etc etc etc .....

whilst mankind walks this earth ...peace will not exist...pick a continent and you'll find a war taking place....

did Mary actually claim the world would experience peace?

The second secret..."You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.

If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pope Pius XI.

When you see a night illumined by an unknown light*, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.

To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the Consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays.

If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.

The second secret .......is far too political for a spiritual message...

mary's son jesus may have been a rebel...

but Mary was as pius to what ever religion she followed as any loving mother ever was ....

if the first two secrets are probably made -up...(the imaginings of children)...

it's a fair bet that the 3rd secret is also makey up (as we say in scouseland)

so is the really any point in "undoing it"........

Unveiling the Apocalypse.... is well researched well presented and interesting Emmet,

but it's a folly,

by now you should have reached some conclusions...

so i wonder what your answer will be to these 3 questions..

1.When do you think the apocalypse will take place ?

2.

By what sign will we the people know that the apocalypse is beginning ?

3.What should people do when the apocalypse you predict begins ?

....let's play Bible whilst you ponder your answers...

Ezekiel 1:22-23.

did ezekiel really see a UFO ?

if you draw what he saw....it's a very strange craft indeed..bit like a chinook helicopter ( a bit)or was he being allegorical?

Luke 8:40-48

She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

"WHO TOUCHED ME ?" Jesus asked.

When they all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you."

But Jesus said, "SOMEONE TOUCHED ME; I KNOW THAT THE POWER HAS GONE OUT OF ME"Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace."

" crowding and pressing against him"

why do all the gospel writers refer to this event?

Luke 8:40-48

Physician, heal thyself

And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.?

those that lived and grew up with the child jesus knew him as a carpenters sondid his miraculous powers only work on those that knew him not .

............................................

I remember reading a book as a child about Jesus as a child...

one story was ...

"jesus was sitting with his friends and began carving some small birds from pieces of wood(his dad being a carpenter jesus may have had the "skill")

he made 3 birds out of the wood and when he had finished he held in his hand and blew on themand the birds came to life and flew away....

mary, his mother came and hearing what he had done scolded him lightly..

"these things you must not do until you are older she told him",

another story was upon seeing a rainbow in the sky jesus reached out , drew the rainbow down to the ground and climbed to the top of it and and began to play on it sliding up and down...

imagine that....it's odd that no stories tales etc seem to have been written about jesus as a child,

.....

another book i remember reading was about St Francis

a child's book.... it told how Francis renounced his fathers wealth andwent to "travelling around the country"

whilst doing this he discovered he was able to talk with the birds and animals ...

I'll try to get round to answering your questions, but sometimes I get distracted and forget - I just get so many comments sometimes it's hard to keep up!

Yes, thanks for pointing that out Lepanto. I should have mentioned this. I presumed most readers knew that a lot of these saint's bodies are not longer fully incorrupt and reconstructed to some extent with wax. Same goes for most of the Incorruptibles (St. John Vianney, etc. and even St. Bernadette Soubirous to a lesser degree)

Just very quickly - the light in the sky referred to the Great Aurora Borealis of 1938, which took place during the pontificate of Pope Pius XI. It is this event which Our Lady said would mark the beginning of the war, and the next month Germany annexed Austria. I find it a bit of a worry for your own sake that you question the authority of the Bible so much. If you believe in God, then you should believe that your God wanted to reveal Himself to you, and that this revelation would be a perfect expression of His love. You don't have to believe in any private revelations if you find them untrustworthy, but I think you need to seriously reconsider your position on the authority of the Bible. The prospect of total moral autonomy through the denial of Divine Revelation is the most potent deception that the Devil has ever unleashed on the world, and I fear that you are falling into this snare. The God who went to all the trouble of creating the world, is the same God that revealed himself on Mt. Sinai, and the same Eternal Logos who became Incarnate in womb of the Virgin Mary. The denial of the Creator stems from the resistance to reconcile oneself with the power of a greater authority, and the desire to place our own ego on the throne of God.

appreciate you're reply Emmet..and for allowing me to muse some points with yourself....

"the light in the sky referred to the Great Aurora Borealis of 1938, which took place during the pontificate of Pope Pius XI".

Pope Pius was in the prophecy ...but was dead before it occurred etc...

picking and choosing "bits that fit" is NOT divine prophecy...you only kid yourself when t'is done....

however....

emmet you say you worry for me (how kind) that I "question the authority of the Bible"

refer back to St Paul's maxim..

"Prove all things....etc "

Emmet says ..." If you believe in God, then you should believe that your God wanted to reveal Himself to you, and that this revelation would be a perfect expression of His love"

sighs...oh come on emmet..i expected better than that ...that's a total cop out...

i don't find revelations untrustworthy ..i find them to be conceptions of the human mind and therefore completely fallible, false and fake..

"The authority of the Bible".

the bible was written by men , to give rules and regulations of how wives/women should behave whilst menfolk were away at war...

the bible(like muslim sharia law,the jewish talmud) oppresses women

all dogmatic religion is a tool of man to control women.

check out the catholic church's rules and reg's on contraception ....

oppression with a capital O

You say emmet..."The prospect of total moral autonomy through the denial of Divine Revelation is the most potent deception that the Devil has ever unleashed on the world "

Is it snake oil you're selling Emmet or salvation ?

the devil........get real,would an all forgiving god REALLY allow even just ONE of his children to suffer the torments of "hell"

the devil is a concept of man ...

emmet says ..."The God who went to all the trouble of creating the world, is the same God that revealed himself on Mt. Sinai, and the same Eternal Logos who became Incarnate in womb of the Virgin Mary".

'creationist theory's are all well and good, but in todays' world of dna hubble telescope atomic power etc creationism is justifiably placed with the flat earth witch doctors and medicine men of ye olde worlde ...

we all have to make a living so good luck to you on that account....but it seems you are unable to provide actual details of "the apoc'( only conjecture and supposition)and this leads me to believe that you are ....

"hiding round the corner waiting to shout BOO at the people"

"oh sorry did i scare they ask" with a malicious smile ....

.........................

did the new pope really say..."pay no heed to signs and omens"in his inaugural speech on tuesday?

...

here's a few ideas for your next book.. "The apocalypse revealed "

9-11...the twin towers which took place around the millennium..(give or take a year or two)

was this the beginning of the 3rd crusade...a holy war ?

Comet Ison..... due in november 2013

space scientists' are suggesting that it could if it appears as they hope..

"be a once in a civilisation event".....

sounds as if they're suggesting nothing has been seen like this since the time of the dinosaurs...

brighter than a full moon....and visible during the day...

that's gonna wake the "end is nigh " people up,isn't it just....

europe is on the brink of a complete financial breakdown,it's already occurred but is being hidden from the public

banks and politicians are moving pieces around on the board but soon they'll run out of places to move to.....

ask the people of Cyprus how they feel having their banks shut until next week....

and cyprus is simply a tester for spain and italy and portugal and greece who are all tottering on the edge of "bankruptcy"

would you leave your money in a bank in spain etc ....

"a run on the banks" is called that because...people actually did run to the banks to draw out their money in 1929...

cyprus can't open the banks at the moment because they fear "a run on the banks"

and it's not getting better... the money men can't work out how to fix it...america is in hock upto her neck with china...will america be happy..."doing as it's told " by china in the future ......

I doubt it ...

is this the beginning of the demise of western power....the pharoahs once ruled the world ...as did the greeks, the romans , the Huns, even ghengis khan had his moment of absolute power...

and now due to"the love of mammon" perhaps the west too shall become a has been..

foo-kushima sits on the brink of catastrophe....a 9.0 earthquake will seriously threaten world safety...

so it would be unfortunate for all if Nkorea decide to "go for broke" so to speak and begin launching "big bombs"

cyber attacks....that was just a tester...they're just making sure "they can" ..when they need to

the world health organisation ...

medical scientist's say the most likely threat to mankindis a pandemic of a new virus ..similar to spanish flu, bubonic plague.....etc

is Sars what they mean..or is it bird flu or swine flu or C.R.E or etc etc .....

....The malachy list says this is the last pope...

if his prophecy is true..(and we should find out with the next 15 yrs)

the apocalypse has already begun....

when it really kicks in...first consequence will be the internet shuts down then moby phones and then queues at the petrol pumps..

oh such fun to come....i think not !!

and what should the people do...

praying may help ease the mind...but there's many a pious soul died with a prayer on their lips....

Unveiling the Apocalypse is interesting ...but it offers no solutions not salvation...

Sorry, I was under the impression you were a Catholic. I don't tend to get many readers who aren't Roman Catholics. (Well, I don't think so anyway). I'm glad you find my stuff interesting. I'm not a creationist btw. I believe God created the universe billions of years ago ex nihilo, through the big bang ("let there be light"), and has gradually moulded His creation through the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the process of evolution.The Great Aurora Borealis of Jan 1938 occurred during the pontificate of Pius XI, and Sr. Lucia said that this would be the sign that God would punish the world through another war. It was this event that Sr. Lucia was referring to. Germany annexed Austria 2 months later, in Mar 1938 - thus setting into motion events that would directly lead to WWII. So the prophecy was actually spot on, and marked in the heavens by an act of God. Also the fact that the Miracle of the Sun was predicted months in advance, and was witnessed and reported by atheistic, anti-clerical journalists on the exact date specified, all confirms the veracity of the children's claims.

Lived in britain since a child , born in Dublin an raised as an oirish catlic..

re.fatima

Mark 4:9-12

"Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.

He told them,

“The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you.

But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,

‘They may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding;

otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’

I enjoyed our chat emmet, but i must travel on....in life, events and circumstances lead us all to places we would perhaps not have visited..... we're called by those that may need our guidance....or by those that may be able to guide us......

the path of an individuals life has many twists and turns ,many rises and lows, but all paths eventually lead to the house of god.....and reaching there we see there is no need to knock to enter because God stands at the door waiting for each and every one of us so he can greet us with a smile and a hug...

til we meet on golden sands....always remember the words of the blessed four evangelists...

I know I'm late to this, and I doubt anyone is watching, but hopefully the blogmaster will see this.

I've seen a couple of other ideas like this, that we're in the chastisement right now. But I do have one problem with interpretations like this one, and it revolves around the timing.

If you look at the world since the first of this year, you don't really get the impression that there's an era of peace anywhere about us, or even likely to spring up soon. And this is even more obvious if looking since 1989. Russia hasn't seriously changed her stripes. Sure, Gorby might have done a mea culpa, but it certainly didn't linger with Putin.

If we've reached the end of Satan's time, if we've reached the dawn of the era of peace, then why is the world still so mired in diabolical misery?

I have only just come across your site, and find it fascinating. I too have read a bit about the three days of darkness. My question is how do you quantify three days allegorically with the Apostasy that exists? Jesus was in the tomb in the tomb and this fulfilled what was a literal interpretation of prophecy culminating in his resurrection. Some of your other examples are literal, not allegorical readings. Now, are you aware of Marie Julie Jahenny, the Breton Stigmatic's revelations on this subject? She even tells us the days - Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Interested to know your thoughts.

This "Anonymous" is a real pain. I can understand your not responding to this Devil's Advocate(?) or just run-of-the-mill skeptic. Have to wonder why he/she/they have to hide their identity. Not going to waste any more time on their obnoxious agnosticism.

About Me

As part of research for my book Unveiling the Apocalypse: Prophecy in Catholic Tradition, I studied the Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic languages before graduating in 2006 with First Class honours. My book is the product of around ten years of original research. This blog is intended as a means of supplementing the material presented in the book by providing relevant up-to-date information.